My Chains are Broken
by Moth Mothman
Summary: Lanoree Brock is sent on one last mission: bring balance to the Force. She gives up her life on Tython to be in stasis until the time is right, and she wakes up to what seems like an entirely new galaxy. [NO LONGER RECEIVING UPDATES]
1. Prologue: A Final Mission

**A/N:** _Lanoree is a somewhat obscure character, so I suggest reading her Wookieepedia page for context._

 **Prologue: A Final Mission**

Lanoree Brock felt the anticipation mounting as Tython filled her viewport. The Je'Daii Masters had called her back from an extremely important mission on Ska Gorra, so this must have been an emergency. She should have been worried about the mission, but she had left it in the hands of another Ranger along with her good friend, Tre Sana. She had met Tre when she was sent to stop her brother, Dalien, from activating the fabled Hypergate, and the two had remained close friends ever since.

"You summoned me, Masters?" she asked as she entered the room they had been designated to meet in.

"Indeed we have, Ranger Brock. We have a proposition for you," one of the masters told her.

"Since you called be back from a mission, I assume it is important?"

"It is very important. We have had a vision. We sense that there will be great struggles in the future of the Je'Daii, that many will fall, that the galaxy will be thrown out of balance."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"We have debated long and hard about what action to take, and the Force has given us an answer. When the galaxy is thrown out of balance, somebody must be there to help fix it. That somebody is you. You will be put into stasis in a Force trance, and when the time is right you will be retrieved by one whom the Force deems worthy. Together, you will restore balance."

"You mean I'm going to have to go away? Forever?"

"Not forever. Just until the Force decides you are needed. How long will that be? We don't know. It could be ten years, it could be ten thousand. I understand if you are reluctant."

"That you, Master. I would not like to leave behind my life here, but if the Force believes that this is to be done, I am its humble servant."

 _25,870 years later_

Jedi Knight Cassis Tovar could only watch as the Vong drew closer. There was nothing left for them to do. This would be their last stand, their final battle. They knew they could not win, but they didn't need to. All they needed to do was slow the enemy down long enough for the troops to get away, as this was merely a distraction. The rain was coming down hard, as it does when moments like these occur, and Cassis was freezing. He swept a wad of his soaked, black hair out of his face, as he glanced over to Dav Colisar, his best friend. The Zabrak was crouched behind a boulder, just as Cassis was, ready to pounce.

"So this is what the end feels like," Dav said, "Cold and wet."

"It's kind of heroic if you ask me."

"How so. Isn't going down in a blaze of glory heroic enough?"

"We're cold and wet, yet we're still fighting to the bitter end."

"Right, because who would want to be a hero in good weather?" he chuckled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"The rain will look better when they make a holo of us fifty years from now," another voice said. It was Adari K'sal, Cassis' old master.

"Nice of you to join us, Master," Cassis greeted.

"I've nowhere else to go," she shrugged, "So I may as well make the end memorable. It's been an honor serving with all of you." She said, turning to the others in the group.

The Vong were almost upon them now. They glanced around at the other Jedi and soldiers, all twenty of them. This was it. They would die here. The Vong drew even closer. It was time.

They jumped out from behind the rocks, and came down upon the Vong. Cassis and Dav stuck together and fought as one, dispatching the Vong soldiers with ease, but it was not enough. Their men were dropping like flies. If they were going to pull this off, they had to hold out for as long as possible. One Vong soldier after another dropped dead to the ground as the pair of Jedi worked their way through the crowd.

The next indistinguishable amount of time was a blur. Cassis had a few vague memories of what had happened, but nothing substantial. It didn't matter, though, because he, along with several other men had been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, a fate far worse than death. He didn't know how long he had been there, and that didn't matter either. It was just a long time. That was the best way he could describe it. Every day, the Vong tortured him. His body ached, and he regularly begged for death, or at least he thought he did. Whether or not the words actually made it to his mouth was yet to be determined. Still, it didn't matter now. His pain was excruciating nonetheless. It felt as if he were being stabbed from all directions with fiery needles, and then being dunked into a lake of lava to cool off, but never actually catching fire. As if he were being left to freeze in the wastelands of Hoth while being beaten to death by a Wampa, but never actually breaking. As if a lightsaber was being continually being drug across him, but never actually leaving a mark.

He remembered watching Master K'sal being killed. She was in agony than he was as it happened, but he was still envious. She got to die and leave this wretched place, while he had to stay and be tortured.

Then he was somewhere else. A bleak, sandy world. Or at least that's what it looked like. He wasn't sure. For a year he had been tortured, and now he was no longer in pain. He did not care where he was.


	2. Lost, Found, and Lost Again

**A/N:** _I added a second part to the previous chapter. If you've only read the first part that focuses on Lanoree, go back read the second part or you will be very confused._

 **Lost, Found, and Lost Again**

Cassis (His name _was_ Cassis, right?) stared blankly into the sky. He stirred lightly as he became at least somewhat lucid, and took in his surroundings. He was in a desert, the sun was blaring down upon him, and yet it was oddly cold. The reddish orange sand formed a somewhat rocky landscape, and he could make out a structure in the distance. There was a figure coming towards them, but he could never make out who or what it was.

"You must be in need of help," the figure said. Cassis must have responded with some sort of 'yes', because the figure motioned for him to follow. They quickly obliged, and began walking towards the structure. Dav was with them, and a few others who had survived, but Cassis couldn't remember any of their names, even if he wanted to.

After ten or so standard minutes of hobbling and limping, they finally approached the structure. It was a building, and a seemingly large one at that. The figure led them through the corridors of the temple, towards what seemed like a throne room. By this time, Cassis was aware enough to take in the appearance of the figure on the throne. He wore a large, elaborate suit of armor covered in spikes. Behind his mask, Cassis could notice that his eyes were two different colors. That was...odd, for a what looked to be a human. The figure stood and approached them.

"Take them away, except for this one," he put a finger on Cassis' chest, "I will deal with him first." Now that the figure was up close, Cassis could see that they were roughly the same height. The figure was slightly taller, likely due to his armor. The first figure led the other survivors out of the room. Cassis was now alone with the new figure. "Hello, boy. What is your name?"

"My name is..." he struggled to find the words.

"No matter. You are now Vantos."

"My name is Vantos…." he had a moment of realization, "No, my name is Cassis To-"

"YOUR NAME IS VANTOS," the figure said, sending a wave of Force lighting into Cassis- no, Vantos.

"My name is Vantos…" he coughed out as he stumbled back to his feet.

"And I am Lord Krayt. Your master."

"My master is...Adar-" the figure blasted him with another wave of Force lighting.

"You will learn to be obedient in time, Lord Vantos," he chuckled.

 _Five years later_

Vantos stared blankly into the ceiling of his designated quarters. That was all he could do. His mind was broken. He was nothing more than an errand boy for the higher ranking Sith. Krayt himself was often in stasis, which was generally a good thing. Some of the other Sith were at least somewhat close to merciful. Maybe their lightning would be a bit less potent when he made a mistake on a mission. Maybe their torture would be a bit less miserable if he failed. He ought to have thought that this place was an awful hellhole that he should get away as far away from as possible, but he hardly had his own thoughts anymore. The only thing that occupied his mind was whatever his current objective was, unless he was not on a mission. In that case, he either trained or did nothing at all. Life was bleak, but he did not realize that.

At the moment, he was on his way to Onderon. There were some Jedi there who needed to have their 'living organism' status revoked. He heard a knock at his door, and waved it open.

"We have almost arrived, my lord," the snivelling, pathetic excuse for a slave said. Vantos rose from his cot at pushed the slave out of his way as he left.

0808080808

Vantos breathed in the fresh air of the planet as he stepped off of the ramp, followed by two of his fellow Sith. They had landed in the wilderness a few kilometers away from a small settlement. It was midday, so they had plenty of time to get there before nightfall. They were surrounded by a vast array of rocky structures as they began the hike towards the settlement. It didn't take long, since they were able to move fairly quickly with the power of the Force. They arrived at the settlement and split up to find word of where the Jedi were. Vantos found himself in a sort of plaza.

 _"Master, I think I found him," Cassis said, motioning for his master to follow._ _"Where? Oh, I see him," Master K'sal said as she approached her apprentice, "The one with the brown hat?"_ _"Yeah, that's him, I know it!"_

 _"Be wary of your surroundings, Padawan. Things are not always as they seem." As if on cue, a blaster erupted to life behind them. They barely had enough time to get out of the way and pull out their lightsabers as the plaza erupted into chaos. They turned to see one man running away with the stolen artifact, and another following him closely behind, blaster in hand. Cassis bolted forward to stop the man with a artifact, and K'sal attacked the man with the blaster, easily disarming him and joining her Padawan. Cassis leapt into the air, landing in front of the man, and K'sal Force-pushed him into a wall. They picked up the artifact and started back towards their shuttle._

Vantos shuddered and shook himself back into reality. What just happened? He had no idea, but for some obscure, mildly infuriating reason, it made him feel... _good_. Nevermind. There was no time for this sentimental garbage right now; not when he had a Jedi to kill. He looked around and saw a man operating a vegetable stand. The Jedi would have likely bought some sort of food, so he would likely have some good information.

 _"Hello, Cassis," the Chiss woman said. She had blue skin and glowing red eyes, with long, obsidian hair flowing down her shoulders, "My name is Adari K'sal. You've been assigned to be my Padawan."_ _"Hello, Master."_

"What in the seven hells of Corellia is going on?" he muttered to himself. Wait, since when did he mutter things to himself? His breath began to quicken as he hurried towards the vegetable stand.

 _Cassis could barely keep up as the Zabrak boy swung furiously at him with a training saber, eventually catching him on the leg and knocking him over. The boy held out a hand, which Cassis accepted._ _"Thanks…" he said as he was pulled to his feet._ _"The name's Dav."_ _"Oh. My name's Cassis."_

"Get out of my head!" Vantos thrust himself back into reality, "This place is cursed. I need to leave." He turned and broke into an all-out sprint towards the nearest exit. He ran all the way back to the shuttle, and it was evening now. He went inside and sank into a chair.

"Back so soon?" an officer said, "Where are the others?" Vantos said nothing and stood. In one smooth motion, he ignited his lightsaber, slashed it through the man's torso, and Force-pushed him out onto the ground. He raised the ramp and sat in the pilot's chair.

'I need to go somewhere else,' he thought, 'Anywhere but here.' He input some coordinates as he rose into the atmosphere.

" _Was your mission successfu-_ " the commlink chimed. Vantos shut it off before the man could finish. He activated the hyperdrive and shot off into space.

 _"The Vong are approaching far too quickly. We won't have enough time to get out, and we don't have enough men to fight back," the general said._ _"We'll handle the Vong," Cassis said, "You guys leave and get the holocrons to safety."_ _"Knight Tovar, you're going to get yourself killed out there," another officer chimed in._ _"I know, and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it means getting the rest of you out of here."_ _"So are you just going to go out there alone?" another asked._ _"No, he's not," Master K'sal said._ _"I'm going with them as well," Dav said._ _"Well, if the holocrons are so important to you, go gather a team and get going. We haven't much time."_

"NO!" Vantos yelled, slamming his fists down on the control panel. He needed some rest. Maybe a good nap would rid him of these awful visions.


	3. The Green Planet

**A/N:** _Happy New Year! Here's a little present for y'all, as well as an announcement (stay tuned for that)._

Enjoy~

 **The Green Planet**

Vantos (maybe Cassis, he was not sure) awoke as the control panel began screeching at him. He sighed and began the landing procedure, as he descended towards the blue and green planet that was now before him. After several minutes, the ship came to rest in a clearing by a mountain. There was no sentient life in the area, although there _were_ some animals that he could sense when he reached into the Force. This planet was strong in the Force. _Very_ strong, even more so than Korriban. It was almost as if it were calling to him, leading him…

0808080808

 _Lanoree sighed as she raised the ramp of her trusty peacemaker one last time. Ironholgs sputtered from behind her._

" _I know, buddy," she said, "Don't worry, though. I'll see you again someday." She patted the top of her droid, before going further into the cavern. She had just come back from month-long tour of Tython, so that she could see it one more time and say goodbye to her colleagues. The council had made up a lie that she would be permanently moved to Fury Station, but before returning, she made a quick trip to Bogan to secretly send off a decoy Peacemaker towards Fury Station. The decoy was set to self-destruct before reaching its destination, however, and all the other Tythans would believe her to be dead._

" _Ranger Brock, are you ready?" one of the masters greeted as she entered the room where she was to be frozen._

" _I am, Master. Ironholgs, it's time for you to go to sleep," she commanded. The droid whirred and wheeled itself into a corner, where it powered off. "All the things I will need are on board my ship, just as you requested."_

" _Very good. Shall we begin the procedure?"_

" _Best to just get it over with," Lanoree sighed, as she climbed into the stasis pod. She laid back as the masters began their ritual, and the fluid began to freeze. She felt the peace of unconsciousness fill her body, her mind drifted off into the void._

 _Just as she had fallen into sleep, she was thrust out of it by a warm sensation, and her body came to life once more. She could barely make out the figure of a man standing before her._

0808080808

Vatnos felt the Force calling him, and he turned to see...the mountain. Yet the Force still called. He reached out, and felt a tunnel inside the mountain. A circle on the side of the mountain began to spin, before falling to the ground before him. There was indeed a tunnel going into the mountain. He sighed and began walking, but not before checking to make sure he had his lightsaber. Hopefully he would not need it, but one could never be too certain.

The tunnel was mostly empty, but he could feel that there was something at the end of it. The Force was calling him, begging him to keep walking, so that's what he did. Eventually he reached the end. It was a large cavern with a block in the middle. He pulled the cloth covering off of the block, and was shocked by what he found underneath. It was a woman, frozen in what looked like ice. She wore a brown jumpsuit, and had beautiful auburn hair. His eyes were drawn to a button on the side of the block, which he pressed. The ice melted, and the woman was alive...somewhat. He placed a hand on her stomach, and life flooded back into her, and he felt her life force and his become one.

' _Oh kriff, what did I just do?'_ he thought.


	4. Who?

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Who?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong id="docs-internal-guid-8e1c37e2-7fff-9b72-b275-a7f35f4668d3" style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Who are you, and why should I keep you alive,/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"" the man said, as Lanoree sat up. She couldn't understand his language, it have been some new thing that the galaxy developed during her elongated nap./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm sorry, I can't understand you," she said. Maybe her language was still being used./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I can't understand what the hell you're saying," /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"he said. Lanoree, frantically searching for a way to communicate, suddenly realized something. She was connected to this man. It must have had something to do with how he preserved her life moments earlier. She reached into the Force and touched his mind (an act made easier by their apparent bond), and she sent him calming emotions. He was in distress, and that was not going help them communicate, let alone figure out how to pass the language barrier. He began to relax./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lanoree Brock," she said, pointing to herself. The man understood. He pointed to himself and opened his mouth as if to say something, but he simply sighed. She touched his mind again (very carefully this time), and saw that he wasn't sure who he really was. He was torn between two different identities. She sent him more calming emotions, and he again relaxed. She climbed out of the stasis pod, and weakly managed to stand. He took a step back and put a hand on a cylinder that rested on his hip, which she could only assume was some sort of weapon. She sent him more calming emotions, and he took his hand off the cylinder. She let down all of her mental barriers, and gave him an understanding look. He cautiously let down what seemed like most of his, and they studied each other's memories for a moment. He had been raised by a group of Force users and then was thrust into war. He was captured, and then there was a spot covered by a large barrier. The barrier was so great, that she doubted even he could break through it, so she left it and continued. He found himself in a sort of cult of Force users, which broke him down and forced him to go out into the galaxy and commit horrible acts. A short while ago, he had a mental breakdown and ended up here. She then had an idea, and began to give him a basic understanding of her language, and gave herself a complete understanding of his language (or at least as complete as this method would allow). They finished observing each other, and stood in silence for a moment./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's a neat trick," he said, breaking the silence./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The...masters," she hesitated speaking in this new language, "Taught it to…me...before I left."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who are you?" he asked after another moment of silence./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lanoree Brock. Je'Daii Ranger. I was put in there….to bring balance."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Balance? Good luck. The Force is split in two and the Light is the only one who would even consider going along with that."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm sure we can...find a way," she shrugged, "Who are you?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I don't kriffing know."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That is why you are here?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""In a way, I suppose."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I think you know...who you are."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I told you I don't know," he spat./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Vantos is bothering you, isn't he."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"am/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Vantos."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Vantos is bothering you, isn't he," she repeated./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He is," he sighed, "I want that monster out of my head."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That is something that we can work on. Tell me...what has happened since I've been gone."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Like I said, that Force is split in two. The Jedi and the Sith. The light and the dark. They've been trying to kill each other for thousands of years."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about the technology?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Force users have these," he pulled out his lightsaber and ignited it, "You'll have to build one of your own. Someone will have to teach you to use it without accidentally killing yourself. Unless they already had them in your time. Speaking of which, where did you come from?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I was born and raised here on Tython. I have never left the system, in fact. And they didn't have those in my time."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'll have to get you a teacher then."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You don't suppose you could do it? It isn't like you've got a life to return to. We could help each other out. You show me the galaxy and help me use this weapon, and I help you find yourself again."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That sounds like a deal. And I think I know a way we could sustain ourselves, teach each other, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"and /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"travel the galaxy at the same time."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Really? What is it?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We'll become bounty hunters."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Is that illegal?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not unless you break the law while doing it. We'd be catching criminals and pirates anyway. We'll be fine."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh. Ok. Let's do it, then?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I've got one question before we go, though."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What is that?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How are you with a blaster?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Decent."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Good enough. First we'll get you a lightsaber, though." With that, they were off./span/p 


	5. Mirial

**Mirial**

Lanoree took a deep breath as she sank into the chair, gazing out the viewport at the gorgeous Tythan landscape before them.

"All set?" Cassis asked as he took a seat beside her.

"Yeah," she said distantly.

"If you say so," he shrugged and flipped some switches on the control panel. The engines roared to life, and Lanoree felt the seat press into her back as they left the planet's grasp. After putting some numbers into a keypad, Cassis pulled a lever and they were shot into the void.

"So you pull that lever and we just _go_?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It's got something to do with an alternate dimension or some crap like that. It was super dangerous when it was first invented."

"As most things of this nature are," Lanoree chuckled, "How long will it take?"

"There's a planet not too far from here called Coruscant. It's pretty much the capital of the galaxy, so we'll find just about anything there. We should be there in…a few standard hours. Do know what I mean by that?"

"Not really, but it's not really _that_ important,is it?"

"Nah. You'll be able to figure it out for yourself anyway, it's not too terribly complicated."

 _ **A week or so later**_

"Well, here's Mirial," Cassis said as he lowered the shuttle into the atmosphere, "And I think I found our target."

"That was fast," Lanoree scoffed.

"These pirates don't exactly do a great job of concealing themselves. We'd better hurry, too, it looks like they're about to attack a village, too."

0808080808

"Mommy, I'm scared," the little Mirialan girl cried as she was loaded onto the speeder.

"Neela, sweetie, we're all scared. Don't worry about it, though, we're gonna get you out of here," her mother told her.

"Hey, she's getting away!" a voice called from behind them. Several blaster bolts flew overhead, and a swoop bike came up next to them, blocking their escape. Neela's mother jumped out of the speeder and began shooting back at the pirates, taking out two of them before being shot down.

"Let's check what's in there," one of them said, walking towards the speeder. Neela was paralyzed with fear as she felt a hand reach down and grab her, pulling her out of the speeder and onto the ground. She was crying hysterically as they dragged her away. They took her back around her village towards a ship.

Suddenly, a hooded figure jumped in front of them and began slashing through the pirates with a crimson red lightsaber. The man holding her yanked her back and put a gun to her head.

"Put it down or she dies!" he declared. The figure seemed unsure of what he should do, but his posture did not change, "Five...four...three…"

Neela, in a moment of desperation, sent out a Force wave that knocked down both the man and the pirate. The pirate was left unconscious, but the man got up. Neela simply stood in awe of what she had just done. She had no idea that she was capable of such a thing, being only three years old. Of course, she had been able to hear the Force for a while now, but she did not realize she could use it like this. The man, however, did not seem so surprised. He knelt down in front of her, offering a warm smile.

"Wait right here, ok?" he produced a small blaster pistol from the inside of his boot, "Use this to defend yourself. My partner is here too, but she'll be easy to tell apart from the pirates."

"Ok," Neela said weakly, tears still in her eyes. The man stood and went back to join the fight, cutting down pirates with ease. She also noticed the woman he had told her about. She did not have a lightsaber, but it looked as if she could hear the Force as well. A majority of her shots hit their mark, while she avoided all enemy fire. Plus, she did use the Force sometimes as well. One could say that that kind of gave it away that she was Force-sensitive.

"Hey little girl. You didn't think you'd get away that easily, did you?" the pirate that had held her earlier had gotten up, and was sauntering towards her. She raised the pistol that the man had given her, and pulled the trigger several times. The pirate toppled over, dead. She plopped down on the ground against the wall, as she realized that she had just _killed_ somebody. After several minutes, she was brought back to reality by a tap on her shoulder. It was the man from before- he had come back for her! She hugged him tightly for a moment, before following him to the village center where the survivors (all eight of them) had gathered.

"Thank you, Jedi, for saving us," one of them said with a bow.

"Apologies, sir, but I'm afraid we aren't Jedi. We're actually just bounty hunters, though we were sent with good intentions, I assure you."

"It doesn't matter where you came from. Force knows how many other villages they could have destroyed, had you not stopped them. And you saved little Neela from being captured. Speaking of which, what is to become of her?"

"She could either come with me or stay with you. Whichever one she picks is her decision," he glanced down at the girl, who was tightly clinging to his leg.

"I suggest she goes with you. We are fairly ill-equipped to handle a growing child at the moment. And I'd assume you know more about the Force than we do," he came over to her and knelt down in front of her, "What do you think, young one?" Neela said nothing, only tightening her grip.

"I suppose we've got our answer then," Cassis said, "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, you've done plenty already."

"We'll be off, then," he said with a bow, as he, Lanoree, and Neela turned and left.


	6. Update and Announcement

What's up, gamers, I've got some news for you.

I've come here tonight to officially announce that I am done writing for _My Chains are Broken_ _._ I've known for a while now that I would have to do this eventually, but I wanted to wait until I had full confidence in its replacement.

Speaking of the replacement, I initially started writing it solely to add backstory for Cassis and repair some of the mistakes I felt I had made with MCaB, stretching the Dark Side arc into an entire second act, and giving Cas a villain that was more personally connected to him than Krayt. However, the rewrite soon evolved into something more, warranting an entirely new story.

With that said, if anyone wants to adopt this story, feel free to do so. Just PM me, and we can talk. If not, I'm content with just letting it sit.

So, with the death of the old comes the birth of the new, and I am proud to announce my new story: _The Sins of Our Hand, The Sins of Our Tongue_.

It will be coming to both here and AO3 (find me there under MrMoth) before the end of February. See you then.


	7. New Beginnings

Greetings, readers, or whoever is still reading this story, I've got news for you!

Don't worry, though, it's good this time!

The story I mentioned in my previous update will be going live today: February 20th, 2019. Even since that update, it has gone through a few more changes, but I am proud to present...

 _ **Like Memories in Cold Decay**_

 _After over nearly 2,000 years in stasis, Jedi Knight Cassis Tovar must regain what he lost,_ _but an old rival is determined to stand in his way..._

That being said, I will be leaving this story up, though I will not be updating it at all, as I have no need to do so. _Memories_ will be posted both on here and on AO3 at the same time.

Thanks. See you there.


End file.
